piper: decoding healthy & regenerative design

Take a moment to look around your current environment. Have you ever noticed just how many materials went into the makeup of your immediate surroundings? Materials are everywhere and in everything we come into contact with. As such, they have a massive impact on us and the planet. And there's a level of complexity in understanding that impact that drew architect Simona Fischer to study them.  Toda...

Is it possible to feel like you are genuinely rooted in nature while living in the middle of suburbia? That was the hypothesis architects Matthew and Maria Salenger of coLAB studio set out to test––and they used their 1950s Cedar Street suburban tract home as the test ground. In fact, they embarked on a study of sorts. A study that would span several years and evolve into something much larger tha...

Dr. Esther Sternberg may not have predicted she would author several books on the built environment's impact on human health. After all, until 2012, she was working as a senior scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studying the brain-immune connection. But a chance encounter in 2000 with the then-research director for the US General Services Administration (GSA) would forever change...

Have you ever met one of those people who seems like they've already lived a thousand lives in just a matter of decades? Well, Dr. Gautam Gulati (or Dr. G as he prefers) is one of the humans…or rather super humans. He's earned multiple degrees, from medical to business to design, launched several successful ventures, and speaks around the world...and that's the short list. And the golden thread th...

663 S. Cooper may be home to archimania, an architecture firm in Memphis, TN, but that's just one detail of this unassuming (yet inviting) building on S. Cooper St. What started as the remodel of a pair of midcentury buildings and a tenacious goal of achieving zero carbon, zero energy, blossomed into something much bigger: the making of a connected, carbon-neutral corridor. See how this team of ar...

Build shelter. Not too big. Mostly plants.  Those seven simple words––though borrowed and modified from famed author Michael Pollan in more recent years––embody the ideology that has guided the Bay-area architecture firm Arkin Tilt for nearly three decades. Led by David Arkin and Anni Tilt, they decided early on to hang their hats on ecological design –– mindfully adapting designs to be harmonious...

Welcome to Vali Mews, a four-home urban development in the heart of Phoenix that was designed as somewhat of an experiment. Several years ago, the duo behind this ambitious project, Austin Trautman and Lucas Johnson, set out to see if they could create the "everything bagel" of good building. Not only did they aim to use materials and building practices that were mindful of human health, embodied...

Modernist architecture may be among the more divisive, debated and controversial architectural styles throughout history. But love it or hate it, few can contest its contributions to fundamentally shifting the way humans engage with the built environment. Modernist architects believed in designing spaces that blurred the lines between indoors and outdoors, tapped into primal instincts and desires...

Most homes are not built with human health in mind. In fact, many are actually contributing to negative health outcomes and overall poor health in occupants young and old. But what does a "healthy" home look like? What features should be incorporated and what should be avoided? This is what the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) set out to solve nearly four years ago. But the history of...

Can high performance and beautiful design coexist? This home cracks the code. Civitas is many things to many people. It's a study in sustainability and scalability. It's a connection point for the surrounding neighborhood. It's a test in pairing high design and high performance. And for Barry Yoakum, the architect behind the project, it's also his family home and an opportunity to pay homage to a...

Like all great movements, mindful MATERIALS grew out of a need. For many years, it existed as a database, but along that path, it began to attract stakeholders from all corners of the building industry who were passionate about proliferating healthy materials action. Architects, designers, engineers, manufacturers, and owners, to name a few, were joining in what was rapidly becoming an internation...

Have you ever considered how many chemicals you encounter on a daily basis? And how many of the chemicals are hazardous to your health? It's not something most of us typically think about unless prompted by the distinct odor of off gassing or a visible warning label. But the fact of the matter is, there's almost no escaping them, and you might be surprised to know just how many toxic chemicals sur...

Is organic architecture the key to sustainable building? This home in Scottsdale, Arizona, designed and developed by desert modernist architect Craig Wickersham, is an exploration of the principles of organic architecture as taught by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.   This project, at the base of Pinnacle Peak, demonstrates how starting with a deep respect and love for the land and surrounding...